Ellie the Flower Girl

Wedding Bells
Ellie Mitchell hurried out to the school playground for the last ten minutes of recess. She found her friends Marion, Amy, and Liz at the swing set.

Marion was pushing Amy on one of the swings. “What took you so long?” Marion asked Ellie.

“I stayed behind to see the photos,” Ellie explained. She gave Liz a push on the other swing.



Their teacher, Mrs. Sienna, had been at her daughter’s wedding over the weekend. She had come back with lots of pictures. And Ellie had asked to see all of them.

“I’ve decided something,” Ellie announced. “All I want in life is to be a flower girl!”

Liz laughed. “How come?” she asked.



Ellie gasped dramatically. “I mean, scattering the flower petals? No one else in the wedding gets to do that,” she pointed out. “And the fancy dress! That might be the very best part! The flower girl at Mrs. Sienna’s daughter’s wedding was wearing this gorgeous pink dress. It had these different layers of pink and sparkly beads. And it totally matched her shoes!”



“If I were ever a flower girl,” Marion said, “I would want to design my own dress.” Marion loved fashion design.



Amy shook her head. “I’d be way too nervous to be a flower girl. I know I’d trip or something. Then it would be remembered forever in photos!” She shivered at the thought. Amy didn’t love being the center of attention.



Liz pumped her legs, trying to swing higher. “We went to my uncle’s wedding last summer,” she said. “Each bridesmaid’s dress was a different color. It was so colorful! I think it’s kind of boring when all the dresses match.”

Ellie smiled. “You do love color,” she said to Liz. Liz was an artist, after all!

“Speaking of color,” Amy cried, “Ms. Sullivan said we could help paint the fence at The Critter Club after school today!”

The four friends had started the only animal rescue shelter in their town of Santa Vista. They had named it The Critter Club and it was located in their friend Ms. Sullivan’s barn.



“Fun!” Ellie exclaimed. “It will give us something to do, since we don’t have any animals to take care of right now.”

Liz grinned. “Do we get to paint it any color we want?” she asked hopefully.





At dismissal time, Ellie’s mom picked her up from school. They made a quick stop at home so Ellie could change into painting clothes. Then Mrs. Mitchell drove her over to The Critter Club.

On the way, Ellie told her mom about her day. “Mrs. Sienna’s daughter got married!” she exclaimed. “And I got to see all the pictures!”